An unlikely drug, already marketed to treat overactive bladder, has triggered the regrowth of myelin in mice.

Researchers from the University at Buffalo have discovered a way to jump start myelin repair using a drug meant to treat overactive bladder.

The breakthrough, announced in a recent study, could pave the way for reversal of nerve damage seen in many neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS).

A team led by Fraser Sim, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology, discovered that using solifenacin helped cells that make myelin, known as oligodendrocytes, do their job.

In MS, the fatty myelin insulation covering nerves in the spinal cord and brain is destroyed by immune cells. This results in the interruption of signals from the brain to the rest of the body. Symptoms range from mild numbness and tingling to memory loss to balance and mobility problems.

“In MS, myelin is damaged,” Dr. Jack Burks, chief medical officer of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) told Healthline. The damage “is followed by repair with more myelin producing cells being recruited to the damaged area. Unfortunately, as MS progresses, this repair mechanism is slowed.”